课间缓解学习疲劳的一项探索性研究

学习疲劳是影响学生心理健康和学习效率的重要因素。学生课间心理保健操是根据我国大、中、小学生的生理、心理特点,参考Jacobson的渐进放松技术编制而成的,一般在学生学习最疲劳的课间组织实施。经过8所大、中、小学921名被试的实验研究,结果显示:学生课间心理保健操对大、中、小学生都有作用,能够有效地缓解学生的学习疲劳,恢复认知水平,特别是注意水平;对男生和女生普遍适用。适合大面积推广。     

Learning representations of wordforms with recurrent networks: comment on sibley, kello, plaut, & elman (2008)

Sibley et al. (2008) report a recurrent neural network model designed to learn wordform representations suitable for written and spoken word identification. The authors claim that their sequence encoder network overcomes a key limitation associated with models that code letters by position (e.g., CAT might be coded as C‐in‐position‐1, A‐in‐position‐2, T‐in‐position‐3). The problem with coding letters by position (slot‐coding) is that it is difficult to generalize knowledge across positions; for example, the overlap between CAT and TOMCAT is lost. Although we agree this is a critical problem with many slot‐coding schemes, we question whether the sequence encoder model addresses this limitation, and we highlight another deficiency of the model. We conclude that alternative theories are more promising.     

自我肯定研究述评

自我肯定是指通过肯定与威胁信息无关领域的自我价值,来维持自我整体性,从而降低防御反应。它可以通过完成自我价值观量表、描述重要的个人价值等方式来进行实验操纵。经过自我肯定的个体能更加客观、公正地处理威胁自我认同和群体认同的信息,促进个体的成长。这些作用可能是通过系统地思考说服信息的中央路径的认知加工来实现的。在未来的研究中,对个体最重要价值威胁情况下的自我肯定效应、自我肯定效应的多种机制的共同作用、自我肯定效应与群体肯定效应的区分以及自我与群体肯定效应的跨文化比较等方面还有待进一步的研究。     

网络成瘾者的编码和再认实验研究

探讨网络成瘾者在编码和再认阶段是否具有负性的社会认知加工特点.采用Tversky的社会认知实验范式对网络成瘾者与非网络成瘾者进行比较研究.结果表明:(1)与非网络成瘾者相比,网络成瘾者具有更多的负性编码,存在负性编码偏向;(2)与非网络成瘾者相比,网络成瘾者具有更多的负性再认,存在负性再认偏向;(3)网络成瘾者在编码和再认阶段具有负性的社会认知加工特点.     

中央执行注意资源在消极和积极特征捆绑中的作用

鉴于以往研究未明确视觉工作记忆中特征捆绑是否需要注意资源,以及未考察积极加工条件下的特征捆绑等问题,本研究运用双任务干扰范式,通过两个实验分别在消极加工和积极加工条件下考察了联结客体的特征加工和特征捆绑,以及中央执行注意资源在特征捆绑中的作用。结果表明：联结客体的特征加工不但存在双重存储机制,还存在双重操作机制,这一结果拓展了Wheeler和Treisman（2002）的特征捆绑理论;联结客体的特征捆绑可分为消极特征捆绑和积极特征捆绑两种类型,消极特征捆绑不需要中央执行注意资源的参与,而积极特征捆绑则需要中央执行注意资源的参与。     

Aggressive behavior induced by electrical stimulation in the midbrain central gray of male rats

Electrical stimulation via electrodes implanted in the lateral hypothalamus may induce intraspecific aggressive behavior. Small electrolytic lesions placed via these electrodes resulted in a five– to tenfold increase in the current threshold for aggression. Degenerating fibers were stained by means of the Fink-Heimer method and could be followed caudally to the dorsal midbrain central gray and to the mammillary bodies. A few axons could be traced rostrally to the medial septum. Aggression could be induced from 10 of 112 electrodes implanted in the central gray; the other electrodes elicited either locomotion, vocalization, jump, or “alarm-like reactions.” The morphology of the induced aggression was similar to the morphology of the hypothalamically induced aggression, though it was often accompanied with motor disturbances and was less intense. Hypothalamic stimulation was combined with simultaneous central gray stimulation in rats with electrodes both in the hypothalamus and in the central gray. Hypothalamic thresholds for aggression could be lowered by this stimulation of the central gray, even when no aggressive responses were observed during central gray stimulation alone. This suggests that, although aggression is not manifest, electrical stimulation may activate neural tissue involved in aggressive behavior. It is concluded that in rats central gray and hypothalamus are part of the same neural network mediating intraspecific aggression.     

The cognitive penetrability of perception: A blocked debate and a tentative solution

Despite the extensive body of psychological findings suggesting that cognition influences perception, the debate between defenders and detractors of the cognitive penetrability of perception persists. While detractors demand more strictness in psychological experiments, proponents consider that empirical studies show that cognitive penetrability occurs. These considerations have led some theorists to propose that the debate has reached a dead end. The issue about where perception ends and cognition begins is, I argue, one of the reasons why the debate is cornered. Another reason is the inability of psychological studies to present uncontroversial interpretations of the results obtained. To dive into other kinds of empirical sources is, therefore, required to clarify the debate. In this paper, I explain where the debate is blocked, and suggest that neuroscientific evidence together with the predictive coding account, might decant the discussion on the side of the penetrability thesis.     

Development of predictive responses in theory of mind brain regions

When we watch movies, we consider the characters’ mental states in order to understand and predict the narrative. Recent work in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) uses movie‐viewing paradigms to measure functional responses in brain regions recruited for such mental state reasoning (the theory of mind [“ToM”] network). Here, two groups of young children (n = 30 3–4 years old, n = 26 6–7 years old) viewed a short animated movie twice while undergoing fMRI. As children get older, ToM brain regions were recruited earlier in time during the second presentation of the movie. This “narrative anticipation” effect is specific: there was no such effect in a control network of brain regions that responds just as robustly to the movie (the “Pain Matrix”). These results complement prior studies in adults that suggest that ToM brain regions play a role not just in inferring, but in actively predicting, other people's thoughts and feelings, and provide novel evidence that as children get older, their ToM brain regions increasingly make such predictions.     

Effects on memory of early testing and accuracy assessment for central and contextual content

ABSTRACT

Memory for an event is influenced by many factors including retention interval, frequency of assessment, and type of information assessed concerning the event. We examined the usefulness of observer memory for contextual information in assessing accuracy of memory for central information. Participants viewed a video of a purse being stolen and were asked questions concerning the perpetrator and surrounding context of the event, including where and when the event occurred and who else was present. Participants tested immediately after seeing the video exhibited better memory than those tested for the first time 48 hours after the event. Additionally, testing immediately after viewing the video reduced forgetting over the 48-hour delay (i.e. early testing attenuated subsequent forgetting). Moreover, memory for the context of the event correlated positively with memory of the central information (i.e. perpetrator), and memory concerning other people at the event tended to have the highest correlation with perpetrator memory.     

Environmental and Behavioral Influences on Gene Activity

The central dogma of molecular biology holds that 'information' flows from the genes to the structure of the proteins that the genes bring about through the formula DNA → RNA → protein. In this view, a set of master genes activates the DNA necessary to produce the appropriate proteins that the organism needs during development. In contrast to this view, probabilistic epigenesis holds that necessarily there are signals from the internal and external environment that activate DNA to produce the appropriate proteins. To support this view, I review a substantial body of evidence showing that external environmental influences on gene activation are normally occurring events in a large variety of organisms, including humans. This demonstrates how genes and environments work together to produce functional organisms, thus extending the model of probabilistic epigenesis.